Know Your Pillar: The Framework for Building an Authentic Personal Brand

As part of our Independent Consultant of the Year Awards 2026, we're delighted to have Born Advisory as a sponsor, donating an online personal brand course to our winner. Madeleine Weightman, Co-Founder of The Work Crowd, sat down with Ethan Spibey, founder of Born Advisory, to find out more about his work, his thinking and what the course involves.

Ethan, tell us a bit about what you do at Born Advisory.

My main business is media training and public speaking coaching. I work with people from major brands across Barcelona, London, Manchester, Bristol and Glasgow; helping them find and articulate their voice with real impact. But the thing I've come to believe, quite firmly, is that all of that work is completely pointless if someone doesn't first have clarity on their personal brand. So personal brand is always where I start, regardless of the question, it's almost always the answer.

Why does personal brand matter so much right now, particularly for freelancers?

Two reasons. First, everyone is doing it. If you're not actively out there talking about what you do and what you stand for, other people are, and the ones doing it well are seeing real commercial benefits. That's just the reality of where we are. But on the flip side, a lot of what's out there is, frankly, dreadful. The "delighted to announce" LinkedIn post, the overly worthy content that bears no resemblance to the person you actually meet. People see through it immediately, particularly in a world as small as communications, where everyone has worked with everyone. So yes, you need to invest in your personal brand, but if you can't do it authentically, it's better not to do it at all.

So how do people find that authenticity? Where do they start?

I use a framework built around four pillars: perspective, purpose, people and personality. The most important exercise I do with every client, and it's the first one in the course, is being genuinely honest about which pillar reflects who you are. The biggest trap is that most people default to purpose, positioning themselves as passionate and worthy. But when you meet them, they're nothing like that. It's not authentic and, more importantly, it's a missed opportunity.

The pillar I think is most underutilised is perspective, someone who, through their experience and insight, can offer a genuinely unique point of view. That's actually a very powerful place to stand, and it cuts through the noise far more effectively than another "so proud to share" post.

And once someone knows their pillar — what then?

Then it's about showing rather than telling. If you're frustrated about something, show me you're frustrated. If something genuinely excites you, let that come through. The mistake people make is experiencing something real and then trying to translate it into "corporate LinkedIn language.” By doing that, they drain all the life out of it. The emotion, the perspective, the thing that makes it uniquely you is what the audience connects with.

I always ask clients: why do you do what you do? Not what your company does, not what your product delivers but why are you in this room? There's always a story there. And once you find it, the content should start to feel natural, rather than something you're forcing yourself to produce.

What can people expect from the course you're donating to our Independent Consultant of the Year winner?

It's essentially a packaged version of the first and most critical stage of the work I do with clients. You'll watch me work through the framework, complete a series of exercises and then we'll have a genuine one-to-one conversation. Here we will work through your pillars, your narrative and a practical plan for how that translates into content and communications. I wanted it to be genuinely accessible to people who are doing this on their own, without a big team or budget behind them. Because all great communication, whether that's a press release, a LinkedIn post, a media interview or a pitch, starts with this clarity.

Madeleine Weightman, Co-Founder, The Work Crowd:

We're really grateful to Ethan and Born Advisory for supporting the awards. As a platform working with thousands of independent communications professionals, we know first-hand how hard it can be to articulate what makes you different. This course is a brilliant prize — and one we think will make a genuine difference to whoever wins it.

The Work Crowd Independent Consultant of the Year 2026 winner will receive free access to Born Advisory's personal brand online course. Find out more at bornadvisory.com.

Whether you need interim, fractional or freelance expertise for a project, to plug a gap or upskill your team, or you are exploring new opportunities as an independent consultant, The Work Crowd can help you connect.

Madeleine Weightman is Co-Founder and COO at The Work Crowd, working with businesses to find flexible solutions and helping consultants build rewarding portfolio careers.